Dr. Travis Longcore, UCLA. 20 Years of Ecological Light Pollution: From Research to Practice
Although study of nocturnal ecology dates back to the early 1900s, consideration of light pollution as a significant disruptor for natural communities emerged at the turn of the 21st century. In this talk, I trace my involvement in the field since we (Longcore and Rich) coined the term “ecological light pollution” in 2004. This work has included synthesizing impacts of avian mortality at lighted communication towers, mapping the extent and effects of artificial light at night in different habitats from coral reefs to seabird colonies, investigating effects of light color on insect attraction and other animal behaviors, deploying field surveys to measure and model light pollution in habitats of sensitive species, evaluating effects of light at night on wildlife movement and its role in nocturnal fragmentation, and developing methods to evaluate and mitigate adverse effects of light pollution in project design that focus on both three-dimensional mapping of distribution and intensity and on light spectrum considered through the visual systems of fish and wildlife. I will conclude with discussion of the best practices that are now being implemented and developed through national and international advisory bodies.
Dr. Travis Longcore is Adjunct Professor and Co-Chair of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, Science Director of The Urban Wildlands Group, a Los Angeles-based conservation nonprofit, and an independent ecological design and environmental policy consultant. He holds an Honors B.A. from the University of Delaware, an M.A. and Ph.D. from UCLA, and is a graduate of Orono High School. In 2022, he received the Galileo Award from the International Dark-Sky Association “in recognition of outstanding achievements in research or academic work on light pollution over a multiple-year period.”
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